


They’re Just Creepy, Ok!?

by ShyFicWriter



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: 1990 Pennywise, Clowns, Fear, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Heist, Humor, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Tickle Fights, Tickling, fear of clowns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-11 23:29:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19936306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShyFicWriter/pseuds/ShyFicWriter
Summary: Reader goes on a mission with Yondu and Peter and must confront one of her fears.





	They’re Just Creepy, Ok!?

**Author's Note:**

> Setting takes place in 2006 while Peter is still with Yondu and the Ravagers.

“Alright, listen up!” Yondu called out as he entered the mess hall, Kraglin close behind as always. They stopped near the table where you were having a drink with Peter. Yondu spoke again. “Three new jobs just came in. If ya don’t already got a job get yer ass over here.”

Five ravagers got up from their seats and walked over to be assigned their missions. You and Peter didn’t have jobs yet either, but seeing as you were already there, you didn’t bother moving. Yondu began giving orders.

“Scrote an’ Oblo, ya two are gonna head to Astra. There’s a guy willin’ to pay three thousand units for ya to steal some paintings from his ex wife.”

The pair chuckled and accepted the paper with the details from their captain.

“Alright, Gef, Horuz, Brahl, ya’ll are goin’ over to Krylor and help intercept a shipment of beer being exported to Xandar. If everything goes well the guy who hired us will be giving us 30% of the shipment.”

The three laughed and high-fived as they too accepted their instructions from Yondu. and followed the first pair out of the mess hall.

Yondu then turned to you and Peter. “You two will be comin’ with me an’ Kraglin for the last job. It’s over on Corydon. There’s a guy that didn’t appreciate being fired and wants us to help him steal some fuel from his old boss. We’ll get three quarters of the bounty.”

“Damn, this guy feeling extra generous or something?” Peter laughed. You looked up at your captain with a smirk of confusion as well, wondering if he must be mistaken. Splitting in half was about as generous as clients usually got. It was highly unusual for the client to just offer up nearly all of what they hired the Ravagers to steal for them.

“Ya, I know boy. I thought he was bonkers too, but apparently this guy just wants to screw over his old boss for firing him. He don’t really care too much about the fuel, he just don’t want his old boss to have it.”

“So we got hired just to help some guy get some petty revenge on his old boss?” you laughed, standing up along with Peter to follow Yondu and Kraglin out of the mess hall to get ready for the mission.

“Yup. Guy worked at some kinda shipment yard. Wants us to steal their fuel so they can’t make their runs.”

“Wow, all that work just to set the company back a day?” Peter laughed.

“Not our problem.” Kraglin replied. “We’re still getting paid.”

Peter and you both share a look and shrug in agreement before setting off to prepare for the mission.

***

A couple hours later you had all boarded an M-ship headed toward Corydon. You took you place in the seat behind Kraglin while Peter took his behind Yondu. You were buckling in your seatbelt when it hit you.

You had never heard of this planet before. You had been so busy processing the pettiness of the client’s request that you didn’t even think about the destination. You looked over at Peter and decided to ask him.

“Hey, I’ve never heard of Corydon before. You ever been there?”

“Nope. I know Halfnut had a job over there once, but nothing more than that. You ever been there, Yondu?”

“’Course I have, boy! I’ve been ‘round this galaxy a million times over!”

“What’s it like?” you ask.

“Just about the same as everywhere else.” he snorted. “Only maybe more borin’. Planet’s ‘bout half the size of Xandar an’ there’s nothin’ to do there. It ain’t no wonder they don’t get more tourists.”

Kraglin spoke up next, “Yeah, and you’re unlikely to find a Corydonian outside of Corydon either.”

“Why’s that?”

“Like we said, kid. Place is boring.” 

You rolled your eyes at being called a kid. Sure you were younger than Peter, but not by much and he was in his mid-twenties. 

Kraglin continued, “The people are boring too, so they just don’t leave. They like the boringness or something. Kinda like you Terrans.”

“Hey!” you and Peter scoffed in unison.

Yondu laughed. “Is he wrong? How many of you Terrans ever leave Terra?”

“That’s not fair. Most of them don’t know there’s life outside Earth!” Peter retorted.

“Ah. You’re right. I forgot Terrans are dumber, so that actually puts ya behind Corydonians because they actually know how to leave, they just don’t wanna.”

“Hey! We’re not dumb!” Peter retorted again. 

You would have backed him up but you knew the argument was a lost cause. Yondu and Kraglin didn’t actually think Terrans were that dumb, but you knew they just loved to rile Peter up. Instead you just put in your earbuds and listened to some music while the other three bickered.

Soon enough you all had arrived on Corydon. It was nightfall. 

The client had told Yondu that there was a wooded area behind the shipping yard where he could land his ship if he came during the night after the shipping yard was empty. The shipping yard would closed for the next couple days for a holiday weekend so that meant they had the luxury of waiting and performing the deed in daylight. 

Yondu parked his ship and you camped out overnight. The client would be in touch the next day sometime after noon so that also meant that there would be time for a little site-seeing in the morning as well. Peter and you could see for yourselves if the locals and sites were really as boring as Yondu and Kraglin claimed.

***

You and Peter woke up early the next morning ready to set out and see Corydon. To your chagrin Yondu and Kraglin stated they were coming along. When you stated that you didn’t need a babysitter Yondu merely retorted that he didn’t feel like having to hold up the job coming to find you two when you got lost.

You could have argued but you decided it wasn’t worth it. You just wanted to finally be on your way into the nearby town to see the Corydonians. Your Terran curiosity was getting the better of you and you wondered if they might look like you and Kraglin, or possibly you’d finally meet a race of aliens that actually looked like the little green men in the movies back home.

Your wish would be granted soon enough. You all reached the town to see lots of people bustling around a marketplace. From a distance you could make out that the people had very pale skin and loud hair colors such as oranges and greens, with a few blues and reds dotted here and there. They all seemed to be wearing clothing as loud as their hair as well.

You turned to Peter as you walked. “They don’t look boring to me. They’re all dressed up so colorful!”

“Don’t let that fool ya, darlin,’“ Yondu said. “They’re still dull as hell. They don’t drink or fight or do anything fun. An’ they got terrible taste in music.” 

“And you won’t be finding a brothel anywhere.” Kraglin added bitterly.

You laughed to yourself. Of course. You should have known they were judging this place on _their_ definitions of fun. This place probably wasn’t boring at all, it just didn’t appeal to the raucousness that Yondu and Kraglin were used to.

You were now about to enter the marketplace when you finally turned your attention back toward the people and could better see what they looked like.

Oh no.

Oh _hell_ no.

They all had very bright lips that matched the colors of their hair. Almost all of them also had giant markings framing their eyes that varied in shape between diamond-shapes and triangles. Their cheeks were incredibly rosy as well as their noses, which stood out fairly round in the center of their faces. 

You couldn’t deny that they bore a striking resemblance to the thing you hated most back on Earth.

Clowns.

Your breath caught in your throat as you stared in disbelief. A planet of _freaking clowns!_

Peter had clearly noticed as well as he laughed and nudged you in the arm with his elbow, “Ha ha, they all look like clowns! Can you believe it?” he whispered.

“N-nope. Wasn’t expecting that one.” you force out an un-hearty nervous chuckle as you feel the blood drain from your face and your heart begin to beat faster. Instinctively you move closer to Peter and begin to fidget with your watch. He doesn’t notice.

Yondu and Kraglin lead you both through the crowd toward some kind of food stand and you fought the urge to run away the entire distance. 

When you reach the stand and it’s your turn to order you try to tell Yondu that you’ve lost your appetite, but he won’t hear any of it. You have a long day ahead of you with the mission and he wanted you to keep your strength up, so he made you face the vendor and order.

The vendor was a tall young-looking man with blue curly hair and eyes that were probably kind, but you couldn’t help but feel fear when looking into them. Out of instinct you attempted to back away but Yondu clasped a hand on your shoulder and pushed you back up. You lowered your eyes and stuttered out which fruit you wanted. It was a purple roundish fruit that resembled a large apple. 

When the vendor handed you your food you handed him the money without looking and accepted the fruit with shaking hands and nearly dropped the fruit.

You could feel Peter looking at you strangely but he said nothing. He noticed the vendor give Yondu a questioning look as if to ask if you were ok and Yondu met this look with a puzzled look of his own as you all turned to leave the stand. 

“What was all that about, girl?” Yondu asked, taking a bite of his own food. “Since when are you shy?”

You could feel your face growing hot and you avoided his gaze. “Nothing.”

“Look, Cap, she’s blushin! I think she fancied that guy back at the stand!” Kraglin laughed. 

You shot a look of contempt back at him. “No! Absolutely not!”

“We can go back there so you can get his number if ya want.” Kraglin teased.

“Or if you’re too _shy_ I can go run and ask for you.” Peter added, laughing at your expense and pretending to turn back toward the way you came.

“No!” you cried, grabbing the sleeve of his jacket. “Don’t!” 

Yondu was laughing now. “Now, boy, if she wants his number she‘s gonna get it herself.” He then spun you back around toward the stand and gave you a little push. “Go on, now. Go get it.”

You turn back around with flushed cheeks. “No! I don’t want his number!” 

“Come now, ya don’t need to be all embarrassed about it, darlin’.” Yondu laughed once more, but luckily this time he didn’t try to push you back towards the stand again.

“Oh shut it.” you say bitterly, angrily taking a bite of your fruit and finding it tasted a bit like a kiwi. You continue walking with the others and momentarily forgot the horror surrounding you. 

Of course this didn’t last long. Eventually you and Peter needed to throw away the scraps from your fruit and therefore needed to seek out a trashcan. You were grateful that you didn’t need to walk through the crowd of clown-looking people alone, but that didn’t help what happened next.

Peter found a trash can and you two broke away from Yondu and Kraglin to throw away your scraps. However, once you had thrown yours away and turned around to walk back with Peter you turned right to face a clown-woman who had just walked up to throw her trash away as well. The sudden site of her made you jump out of your skin with a yelp and your reaction startled the poor woman as well. You muttered an apology and quickly made you way back to the others with your gaze down, because of course Peter hadn’t waited on you and started walking back before you.

Yondu saw everything and gave you a queer look when you got back to them. “Now what was that about?”

“What?” you ask innocently.

“Don’t give me that. Ya jumped clear outta yer skin, missy.”

“I did not!” you lie. “She just... startled me. That’s all.”

“Right.” Yondu replied, unconvinced. He didn’t press it further.

“Satisfied yet?” Kraglin groaned in boredom. “Can we go back now?”

“That’s a good idea.” you said quickly, more than ready to get out of there.

“Really? Ya were the one that wanted to come?” questioned Yondu.

“Yeah, well... you guys were right. This place is totally boring.” you tried your best at looking convincing but couldn’t quite look them in the eye.

“Are you kidding? We just got here! We’ve only been here maybe 20 minutes and it took us the better part of an hour to walk here.” Peter laughed. “You gotta at least give it a fair shake.” He caught sight of a stand behind you that he just knew would brighten your spirits. “Look over there! There’s a stand selling knives!”

Before you knew it Peter had grabbed your wrist and started to pull you in the direction on the stand. Your protests fell on deaf ears to Peter and within moments you were standing in front of a stand run by a short woman with red spiked hair and bright red lips curled in a smile as she began to hype up her wares. Your heart began to beat faster as you watched her pick up a particularly large knife and begin showing it off. You began fidgeting with your watch and you shrank away, attempting to back up so you could leave. 

However, when you moved to do so you only wound up backing up into Kraglin, who had followed you and Peter along with Yondu as they didn’t have anything better to do. The moment your back made contact with Kraglin you jumped a mile.

“Damn, girly! Why are you so jumpy for?” Kraglin chided. 

You didn’t answer, opting instead to fake sassing back by asking why he had to sneak up on you before returning to fidgeting again. You didn’t want to attempt to explain. For one, you didn’t want to offend the vendor, as it wasn’t her fault she looked like the object of your nightmares. You also doubted that Yondu and Kraglin even knew what a clown was, and you weren’t looking forward to the teasing that would inevitably come from Peter if he knew of your fear of clowns.

The vendor attempted to get your attention so that you might also buy a knife but you merely brushed her off, trying to remain as polite as you could in your refusal. The others took notice as normally you like collecting cool knives just as much as Peter, but they didn’t say anything, opting to just give you more queer looks as you fidgeted.

After what felt like hours but was probably minutes Peter finally purchased a knife and you all turned away from the stand. When you were a good ways away Yondu finally spoke up.

“What’s the matter with ya today? Yer fidgety as hell. Do ya need to go to the toilet or somethin’?”

You blushed for about the hundredth time that morning. “No! I- I’m just bored,” you tried. It was true. You didn’t need the toilet. The only place you needed to go right now was off this planet as soon as possible. 

Yondu didn’t really believe you but he just shrugged it off and continued walking. 

“Can we just leave now?” you spoke up. “You were right. This place is boring.”

That stopped Yondu in his tracks. He turned to face you, as did the other two. “What did ya say?” 

“Th-that this place was boring?”

“No, before that. Ya said I was right.”

“Yeah, now I know something’s up.” laughed Peter. “You never admit if Yondu’s right.” Neither did he, for that matter, but that was a fact he was willing to let slide at the moment. 

“Nothing’s up. I told you, I’m just bored.” you tried to give them a look of contempt, crossing your arms to stop yourself from fidgeting. “Can we go now? Please?”

Yondu gave you a look. Something was definitely up. You were practically begging to leave, and he doubted it was just because of boredom. “Alright, let’s go then.”

You let a secret sigh of relief and follow your captain and your team back to the ship.

Maybe ten minutes into the trip back Yondu lightly pinched your side causing you to jerk almost violently away and bump into Peter.

“Hey! What was that for?” you scolded Yondu before Peter had a chance to ask why you had bumped into him.

“For lyin’ to yer captain.”

“Excuse me?”

“Ya heard me.”

“I did not- HEY!” This time your yelp was caused by Peter, assaulting you with a poke to each side. He wore a shit-eating grin and shrugged his shoulders as if to say ‘Why not?’

“Don’t you sta-HAHart! Dammit!” You turned to face Yondu who had just poked you again.

“An’ that was for lyin’ again.” 

You knew what he was likely talking about, but you played dumb. “What are you talking about?”

Yondu rolled his eyes and poked you in the stomach, forcing a giggle from your throat, and in turn a snicker from Peter who recognized a similarity between you and the Pillsbury Dough Boy from the commercials back on Earth. 

You glared at them both. “Quit that!”

Kraglin spoke up with a grin, “You know they won’t. You might as well just spill it.” He always found your “Terran weakness,” as Yondu called it, completely hilarious. 

“I have absolutely no idea what you mean.” You feigned an indignant scowl and turn away from them, intent on walking further up the road. However, you didn’t make it further than a few steps before Yondu clapped you on the shoulder and pulled you back.

“Ya. Know. Exactly. What. I. Mean.” Yondu scolded you, punctuating each word with a poke or squeeze to your abdomen.

You tried to squirm away with each poke, unable to stop your giggles. The other two could be heard chuckling at your expense as you tried to push his hands away with a giggly, “Please! Please! Wait!” You cursed yourself for being so ticklish.

He released you. “Ya were jumpy as hell back there an’ ya were dyin’ to leave almost as soon as we got there. Now, why.”

You stepped back and brushed yourself off. “You imagined it, or overthought it, I don’t know what to tell you. Let’s just get back to the ship. Or do you _want_ do be late for the client?” You again turned and started walking, quicker this time so that he couldn’t grab you. Big mistake.

Yondu let a quick sharp whistle and before you knew it you were face to face with his arrow, halting in your tracks. You sigh in frustration.

“Why d’ya always gotta be so stubborn?” Yondu chided as he approached you. He called his arrow back and you expected to be scolded again. However you were surprised when Yondu grabbed your arms, spun you to face the other two, and kept hold of your arms behind your back.

“Yondu-! What the hell!?” you scowled, attempting and failing to jerk away from his grip.

He ignored you. “Peter,”

“Yeah?” Peter raised an eyebrow and wore a bemused expression. He had a slight inkling of what Yondu was about to ask. Kraglin just stood with his arms crossed grinning and waiting for the show that was inevitably about to take place.

“I think she needs some persuadin’, An’ well, ya do know how best to exploit that little weakness ya Terrans got.” He grinned evilly.

“Don’t you even dare, Peter!” you growled, trying to tug your arms out of your captain’s strong grip.

“You don’t want me to disobey my captain, now do you?” Peter laughed, cracking his knuckles as he stepped towards you. 

“Peter, I swear you’ll regret it!”

“Hey, don’t blame me. All you had to do was spill, but you wouldn’t. Really you brought this on yourself,” he laughed. Peter usually jumped at any chance to tickle you to pieces. After all, as your surrogate older brother this was basically his job, right?

“I told you that it was nothing! Now let me go!” There wasn’t a chance in hell that you were going to tell them. You attempted to think of a way out of this but you just weren’t fast enough because Peter immediately started spidering your sides and you burst into squeaky laughter. “PETER!”

“Hey, you had a chance to do this the easy way.” He laughed as you squealed under his fingertips. He was certain you’d try to get your revenge later, but he’d worry about that another time.

“Ya ready to fess up now, brat?” Kraglin chuckled as he watched you squirm so hard Yondu almost lost his grip. It was intriguing how something seemingly so small could get such a reaction out of you.

“Why do you care so much!?” you cried out amidst your laughter. 

“Oh! So ya admit there was something wrong then!” Yondu confronted. “Tell me now and I’ll call him off.”

‘Crap.’ was what you thought, but what came out was, “No fair! Stopitstopitstopit!” Your laughter rose a pitch when Peter moved to tickle you under your arms and you attempted to kick him away, but of course it didn’t work.

“We already told ya how to make it stop, missy. Ya know better than to keep secrets from yer captain.” Yondu grinned mischievously as you doubled over with laughter. You were both lucky and unlucky that you were like a daughter to him. Lucky, in the sense that he’d use tickling against you over his arrow any day, and unlucky in the sense that if you had been anyone else he wouldn’t have cared what your weird behavior was about and would have ignored it. But, because he saw you as a daughter, he actually gave a crap about your wellbeing and if you were having a problem then dammit he was going to know about it! Even if he had to force it out of you.

“Come on,” Peter said in a sing-songy voice, “You know you want to.” he moved down to your ribs and you let out an honest-to-god shriek and bucked in Yondu’s hold. Peter laughed at your reactions. He loved seeing you laugh and looking so happy, even if you were going to totally murder him later for this. 

You stomped your foot and writhed in Yondu’s grip. Any chance of regaining composure was gone. You couldn’t stand it anymore. Peter always knew which spots to zero in on to make you give in and right now he was attacking one of your worst ones. Almost against your will you felt the words “OK! OK!” rip from your throat with your high pitched laughter. “CLOWNS!”

Peter stopped and gave you a puzzled look. “Clowns?” 

Yondu released you and shared an equally puzzled look with Kraglin. “What’s a clown?” he asked. Kraglin shrugged his shoulders. He had no idea either.

You stood up, trying to pout but finding it difficult as you were still recovering from the residual giggles.

Peter decided to answer them. “It’s a thing on Earth. Clowns are people who dress up in funny costumes and makeup and they put on a funny act. Like, they do tricks and stuff. They look a lot like the people back there actually- _Oh!_ ” Peter exclaimed when the realization finally hit him. “You’re scared of clowns! That makes so much sense now!”

“So ya were scared of the people back there just ‘cause they look like some clown fellers back on Terra?” Yondu questioned with a look of confusion on his face.

You crossed your arms and avoided their gaze. You could feel your face growing hot. “Maybe...” you muttered. You felt silly, letting a childish fear get the better of you.

“I don’t get it.” Kraglin said, still puzzled. “None of that stuff Pete said sounds scary?”

“I don’t get it either to be honest,” Peter admitted, “But it’s actually a pretty common thing on Earth. For whatever reason a lot of people are scared of clowns. I blame the book ‘ _It.’_ ”

Yondu and Kraglin both gave Peter a look that begged for an explanation.

“It’s a book about an evil clown that kills people with their worst fears.”

“Ah...” they responded in unison.

“Your mom let you read the book?!” you asked incredulously, knowing Peter had only been 8 when Yondu took him from Earth.

“Well, no. But I had a cousin tell me about it after they read it. Sounded lame. Like, clowns aren’t scary. Crap idea for a monster.”

“If you had seen the movie you would get it.” you retort.

“Wait, there was a movie?"

“Yeah. Came out in ‘90. My friend convinced me to watch it on TV with her at a sleepover when we were 10 and I didn’t sleep for a week after.”

Peter laughed. “Come on. It couldn’t have been that bad.”

“Well, I hate to break it to ya, missy, but you’re gonna have to get over that real quick,” Kraglin started, half-laughing, “’Cause if you ain’t figured it out by now our client is gonna look just like all the rest of those people back there.”

“Yeah, I know. Don’t remind me.” you muttered, trying for the third time to walk away. This time no one stopped you, but instead began to walk with you.

“So are you gonna be able to keep it together and help us with this job, or are you gonna hide in the ship the whole time?” Peter teased.

You glared at him and punched him in the arm.

“Hey! I’m just asking!” Peter laughed. 

“So a movie really made you scared of clowns?” Kraglin asked, he almost seemed genuinely curious. And he was, for the most part. After all, if clowns really looked that much like Corydonians then it didn’t really make much sense to him to be afraid of them. They looked a little bright and goofy, sure, but they weren’t scary.

“Yeah,” Peter interjected. “Was it the goofy clothes and big red shoes? Or the balloon animals?” He laughed while you glared.

“I didn’t like them even before the movie. They’re just creepy ok! Shut it!”

“Maybe she should stay in the ship.” Yondu thought aloud. “If she’s gonna go runnin’ scared when the client comes then maybe she’s better off out of the way.”

“I will not!” you gritted your teeth in indignation. You weren’t some scaredy-baby, dammit!

“From what I saw back there the odds don’t exactly favor towards ya not cowerin’ away, kid.” 

“I’m not a child! I can handle it!” you growl.

“Alright. Guess we’ll see tonight then.” Yondu smirked. He covertly threw a wink in Kraglin’s direction, who grinned.

“Yeah! I guess we will!” You rolled your eyes. You’d show him. You weren’t a baby.

***

It was about another hour after you got back to the ship before the client arrived to set the job in motion. You were outside cleaning your knife when you felt a tap on your shoulder and turned around to see the very clown-like client standing behind you. You, of course jumped back on site of the red haired man.

“Oh! I’m so sorry, my dear! I didn’t mean to startle you! Are you with the people I called about a, um... job?” He whispered the last bit, as if unsure if he should state his business just in case you weren’t here to help him steal a crap-load of fuel from his old boss. 

“Yeah, that’s us.” Yondu called from a few yards away. 

Your cheeks began to burn when you saw Peter and Kraglin trying not to laugh beside Yondu. They had clearly seen the whole thing. You motioned the man towards the guys and followed behind him. The whole way he spoke of how he got fired and the details surrounding the event, not that you paid much attention to any of it.

“Hello! I believe we spoke the other day. My name’s Sulu! And you are?” His voice was high as he spoke and extended his hand for a shake as soon as you two closed the distance and reached the guys.

Yondu brushed off the introduction. “Let’s just skip the pleasantries and get down to business. Faster this goes, less chance we have of getting caught, understood?”

“Oh! Yes sir! Forgive me, I haven’t done anything like this before!”

“Ya don’t say?” Peter chuckled, sharing a look of amusement with Kraglin. 

“Oh I do say!” Sulu said happily. “Well, I suppose there was this one time when I was but a wee boy-”

Yondu cleared his throat and the man stopped what he was saying.

“Oh yes, dearie me! Er- where shall we start?”

“Well, ya can start by letting us in.” Yondu said flatly. Yondu wasn’t fond of overly-chatty clients, as this man was proving quickly to be. To be honest you were starting to feel more annoyed as well, rather than creeped out. The man just wouldn’t shut up. You wondered in the back of your mind if this might have played a roll in his getting fired.

“Oh yes! Of course! We can’t start from out here, after all!” The clown man laughed heartily and ushered towards the gate. 

While he talked Yondu’s ear off about how he had made a copy of his key the day before he got fired you shared a look with Peter. You both thought the same thing. How can anyone be _that_ peppy? 

“So, about how scary is he?” Peter teased, “Scale of 1 to 10?”

You rolled your eyes. “Actually, I think he’s more of an 8 on the annoying scale.”

“Oh really? You mean to tell me you’re not scared even a teeny bit?” Peter crossed his arms and grinned teasingly. “Because Krags and I totally saw you jump out of your skin earlier.”

“Hey, listen. I don’t think I’m magically cured, but the only thing scary about that one is his uncanny peppiness and his ability to never stop talking.”

“Alright. If you say so.” Peter laughed.

After a few minutes it seemed like the man had stopped talking just long enough to actually open the gate and Yondu waved you all over.

The job went relatively smoothly. There were no bumps in the fuel heist, save for the fact that you could swear that Sulu never stopped talking for more than 30 seconds. You knew this because Yondu assigned you to stay with him, both to keep him out of his hair and, you assumed, to make you face your fear head on. Lucky for you, you were no longer creeped out by this particular clown. However, you were eager for the job to be over if for no other reason than to escape his jabbering. He talked about his pet, his garden, his reasoning on switching from boxers to briefs. He. Never. Shut. Up.

When the job was finally done and Yondu convinced the client not to stick around and talk lest he compromise the whole job and get caught the four of you boarded the ship with your part of the bounty, glad to be done.

“So,” Yondu said to you with a smirk as you boarded behind the others, “how was your mission buddy?”

“First off, not cool. Secondly, I told you I could do it. And thirdly, I think he might have just annoyed my fear of clowns right out of me.”

“Well then that went better than I thought.” he laughed.

“What?”

“Girl, I know ya. I knew the moment I said you’d be too scared to do yer job that you’d do it just to prove me wrong.” he laughed. “I didn’t expect the client to be that annoyin’, but if it works, it works.”

“Wait, you pulled some reverse psychology shit on me?” You stared at him, dumfounded.

“If that’s what ya wanna call it, then sure, sweetheart.” He laughed and leaned against the wall of the ship. “Point is, it worked.”

You rolled your eyes and said, “You’re impossible,” before turning to walk towards your seat to grab your music since you knew you wouldn’t be taking off until nightfall to avoid being seen.

You located your music and turned back around to face the most horrifying clown you had ever seen. It had impossibly large eyes, black as the darkest night. Its bright green hair seemed matted over its head and appeared caked with dirt. More horrifying, its blood red lips pulled back, sneering over sharp, jagged, yellow teeth.

You screamed and jumped back as it lunged for you, nearly falling backwards over your seat in the process.

That’s when you heard the laughter. 

Only, not the terrifying laughter of an evil clown. This laughter belonged to Peter and Kraglin. 

The clown was nearly doubled over from laughing so hard and it pulled away it’s face to reveal Peter’s broad grin.

It was a freaking mask, one that Peter and clearly put together quickly by the looks of it. It was a scrap piece of white-painted cardboard with an evil-looking clown face scribbled onto it and some tall grass stuck on the top with mud for hair.

You glared and punched Peter hard in the arm, but he only kept laughing. “You dick!”

“You should have seen your face! Oh man, I got you good!” 

Kraglin was laughing hard along with Peter. Yondu half-heartedly attempted to scold the boys, stating that ‘ _she’ll never get over it if ya keep that up, boy!’_ but his reprimand fell short as he too succumbed to laughter over Peter’s prank. 

You narrowed your eyes at Peter and pounced on him. “You think that was funny?! I’ll give you something to laugh about, jerk!” and with that you drilled your fingers into his stomach, making him throw his head back in a new wave of laughter.

Peter was stronger, so of course it didn’t take him long to obtain the upper hand, but he didn’t keep it for long and soon you were both in the thralls of a tickle fight that quickly ended in Peter squealing for mercy and apologizing. Not because he meant it, of course, but because he knew you wouldn’t stop until he said it.

Satisfied with your small victory you decide to relax by listening to some music before it was time to take off, but not before taking Peter’s clown mask away and destroying it.

***

Back on the Eclector Peter stated that he was going to find that movie ‘It’ you mentioned to see what the whole clown deal was about, but mostly because he wanted to be able to tease you when the movie turned out to be lame. 

When he does manage to find a copy the guys jokingly invite to to watch, but as they expected you noped right out of there. Peter just laughed and turned on the movie for Yondu, Kraglin and himself.

Peter nearly falls asleep, and Yondu actually laughs at some of the scenes you Terrans find to be scary. He has definitely seen worse before. Kraglin doesn’t say anything until the end.

They finish the movie and Kraglin looks wide eyed at Peter, “Ok. I get it now.” 

“Wait, really?” Peter looked at him incredulously, “But that wasn’t scary at all?”

“Yer kiddin, right boy?” Yondu scoffs.

The first mate doesn’t respond. He looks a bit pale and the other two realize he’s not kidding.

Yondu just shakes his head and gets up to take the disk out of the player. “Well that’s three hours I’ll never get back.” He throws the disk in the trash.

***

In the end Peter did keep teasing you about your fear of clowns now and then, but he did conceded that the movie could have been considered scary for a ten year old you back on Earth... _and_ apparently a 32 year old Kraglin now, a fact which Peter wasn’t going to let him love down.

Peter chuckled to himself as he ordered a case of clown masks from the net. This was going to be fun.

**Author's Note:**

> Just some notes on the timeline for anyone curious.
> 
> The book "It" came out in 1986. The first "It" movie came out on TV in 1990.  
> Peter Quill was abducted by Yondu in 1988 when he was eight years old, so the book "It" had only been out for two years and he wouldn't have known about the films.
> 
> In the timeline I have set up for Reader, who I have written as 23 here, a few years younger than Peter (26), she saw the movie at age 10 in 1993, not long before she was abducted. 
> 
> (In my headcannon for most of my stories Reader is abducted as a child by Skrulls and used as a slave before being rescued by Peter and joining the Ravager Clan.)


End file.
